Month: October 2021
Mehmas’ Malavath Strikes For Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte Success
Everest Racing, David Redvers and Barbara Keller's 2-year-old filly Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) encountered promising sorts when hitting the board over six furlongs in both August starts at Deauville and graduated in a six-furlong Chantilly maiden last month. Returning over the same course and distance of that breakthrough score for Saturday's G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte, the Francis Graffard trainee exhibited late dash to claim a first black-type success with aplomb. The 15-2 chance was swiftly away and tracked the leading duo in third through halfway. Nudged along passing the quarter-mile marker, she inched ever closer thereafter and quickened smartly inside the final furlong to deny the forward-running G3 Prix de Cabourg victrix Have A Good Day (Ire) (Adaay {Ire}) by a neck in the dying strides.
“My main concern beforehand was her ability, or lack thereof, to cope with the soft ground and I was quite apprehensive,” admitted Graffard. “Obviously, I was wrong and am delighted for the owners, the filly and my team. It really is a great result. I have always been high on her and her form was excellent. She doesn't show much in the mornings at home, but from day one she has been a different proposition in the afternoons. I don't think she will stay a mile, maybe seven furlongs, but if she is only a top six-furlong filly that's fine with me. We will see how she winters and, on looks, I have the feeling that she will train on. We will start off [next year], probably over the same [six-furlong] trip, and we'll see where we go from there.”
Malavath, the first of three foals, becomes the ninth pattern-race winner for her second-crop sire and is a daughter of Fidaaha (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), herself a full-sister to the GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial S. victrix Ceisteach (Ire). Fidaaha is also half to MSW G1 Prix Rothschild and G1 Prix Jean Romanet placegetter Steip Amach (Ire) (Vocalised). The March-foaled chestnut's third dam Sharafanya (Ire) (Zafonic) is kin to G2 Goldene Peitsche victor Giant Sandman (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and Listed Harvest S. placegetter Shalamantika (Ire) (Nashwan), herself the dam of G1 Prix de l'Opera heroine Shalanaya (Ire) (Lomitas {GB}) and G2 Prix Chaudeay winner Shankardeh (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}). Malavath's G3 Prix Minerve-winning fourth dam Sharamana (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}) is a half-sister to G1 Epsom Derby, G1 Irish Derby and G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. hero Shergar (GB) (Great Nephew {GB}). Fidaaha has a yearling full-brother to Malavath and a weanling filly by Cotai Glory (GB) to come.
Saturday, Chantilly, France
CRITERIUM DE MAISONS-LAFFITTE-G2, €190,000, Chantilly, 10-9, 2yo, 6fT, 1:12.11, vsf.
1–MALAVATH (IRE), 125, f, 2, by Mehmas (Ire)
1st Dam: Fidaaha (Ire), by New Approach (Ire)
2nd Dam: Ceist Eile (Ire), by Noverre
3rd Dam: Sharafanya (Ire), by Zafonic
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (£29,000 Ylg '20 GOUKPR; £120,000 2yo '21 ARQMAY). O-Everest Racing, David Redvers & Mme Barbara M Keller; B-Tally-Ho Stud (IRE); T-Francis-Henri Graffard; J-Olivier Peslier. €108,300. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1, €131,250. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Have A Good Day (Ire), 125, f, 2, Adaay (Ire)–Black Meyeden (Fr), by Black Minnaloushe. O-Mme Theresa Marnane; B-Michael Phelan (IRE); T-Florian Guyader. €41,800.
3–Desert Dreamer (GB), 125, f, 2, Oasis Dream (GB)–Pure Innocence (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire). (20,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-J W Parry & Mrs C Shekells; B-Branton Court Stud (GB); T-Stuart Williams. €19,950.
Margins: NK, 3/4, SNK. Odds: 7.50, 7.90, 2.20.
Also Ran: Best Flying (Fr), Dizzy Bizu (Ire), Gis A Sub (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.
The post Mehmas’ Malavath Strikes For Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte Success appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Oasis Dream’s Native Trail Completes The Bluewash In The Dewhurst
By the time the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. loomed on Saturday, there was a keen sense of inevitability to the outcome and Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) kept to the script to complete Godolphin and Charlie Appleby's rout of Newmarket's Future Champions Day card. Already the keeper of the generation's bragging rights having collected the G2 Superlative S. at the July Festival here and the G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. at The Curragh Sept. 12, the bay had one more mission to complete and did so with his now-customary professionalism to take an unbeaten record into the off-season. Settled in behind the TDN Rising Stars Straight Answer (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) and Dubawi Legend (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) throughout the early stages by William Buick, the 5-6 favourite was in a pocket with the field having congregated against the stand's rail. Needing his usual niggling to prepare for engagement three out, he responded to hunt down the keen-going Dubawi Legend heading downhill and overhauled that rival 150 yards from the post. Dubawi Legend stuck at it to ultimately be beaten just two lengths, as Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) stayed on to be half a length away in third. “It was a messy pace and messy race and we ended up on the stand's rail, but wherever I asked him to go he went and he hit the rising ground really well,” Buick said. “It's nice to back up his National Stakes win in the Dewhurst, which is the most important 2-year-old race and I think he'll be just as effective or more so over a mile next year. He wouldn't look out of place in a 3-year-old race now–you want to see how he comes out of these races, he's a real man you know.”
With the benefit of hindsight, Native Trail's debut performance at Sandown June 11 looks even stronger now that the four-length runner-up Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has gone on to beat some of this card's leading protagonists in both the G2 Royal Lodge S. and G3 Acomb S. Upstaging Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) in a tight finish to the Superlative, Godolphin's top dog gunned down Ballydoyle's unbeaten TDN Rising Star Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the National to take on extra gravitas and may not have needed to fully repeat that form to double his group 1 tally here. “He's a gorgeous horse with tonnes of ability,” Buick added. “You wouldn't have expected them to come stand's side, but I did anticipate a tactical race and knew he would pick up once he got daylight. He's deservedly champion 2-year-old and could be absolutely anything. He minds himself at home and brings it on in the afternoon.”
What will emerge from elsewhere to challenge his pre-eminence in the 2000 Guineas next spring is unknown at this stage, but it could be that despite his impeccable credentials Native Trail is not even the best 2-year-old in his own stable. Debates will rage throughout the winter as to whether the preceding G3 Autumn S. winner Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the better of the pair, but for now Native Trail has the big title belts all to himself. “Had he not won the National Stakes in similar fashion, I would probably have been a bit twitchy passing halfway but knowing how this horse operates I was comfortable enough,” Appleby said. “He wasn't doing a stroke and was just going through the motions. One thing is for sure, he was not going to stop galloping once he got going and the way he accelerated there when really given the office was quite remarkable.”
“I can't see him getting any further than a mile personally, but he's an exciting Guineas horse along with Coroebus,” the Moulton Paddocks handler added. “His work at home prior to the National Stakes, you wouldn't be getting too excited but he's that sort of horse, he warms into a race and does it all the right way round and that's what we saw again today. There's a lot more to come, you'd like to say, but he is unbeaten with two group 1s. I'm not going to get too carried away. He's a big boy, 540 kilos, and came in at that weight from the breeze-ups. Full credit to the team who purchased him and Norman Williamson who consigned him. Since then, Norman has taken a keen interest.”
“Norman said after the National Stakes he still didn't know what he was doing and he was correct, because his work at home wasn't too exciting but he warms into a race and does it the right way round. I've never put him anywhere near Coroebus at home–they are different types. Coroebus travels very well and has a smart turn of foot, whereas this horse does things in a different manner.”
As Appleby stated, Native Trail was a 210,000gns Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up graduate and is the first runner for the unraced Juddmonte cast-off Needleleaf (GB) (Observatory) who was bought by the MAB Agency for just 60,000gns at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. She is a full-sister to the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup heroine African Rose (GB) and the G3 Prix d'Aumale winner and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Helleborine (GB), with the former producing the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Fair Eva (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Helleborine responsible for the G2 Coventry S.-winning sire Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}).
The second dam New Orchid (Quest For Fame {GB}), who was third in the G3 Lancashire Oaks, is a daughter of Musicanti (Nijinsky II) who also produced the 1999 Dewhurst hero and sire Distant Music from a mating with Observatory's sire Distant View. Musicanti is kin to the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, GI Washington D.C. International and GI Suburban H.-winning champion Vanlandingham (Cox's Ridge) and to the dams of the GII Keeneland Turf Mile and G2 Prix Eugene Adam-winning sire Kirkwall (GB) (Selkirk) and to the GI American Oaks heroine Funny Moon (Malibu Moon). From the family of the GI Belmont S. hero and sire Temperence Hill, Needleleaf's yearling filly by Calyx's sire Kingman was bought by Godolphin for €950,000 at the Arqana Deauville August Sale. She also has a filly foal by Siyouni (Fr).
Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
DARLEY DEWHURST S.-G1, £526,375, Newmarket, 10-9, 2yo, 7fT, 1:24.82, gd.
1–NATIVE TRAIL (GB), 127, c, 2, by Oasis Dream (GB)
1st Dam: Needleleaf (GB), by Observatory
2nd Dam: New Orchid, by Quest for Fame (GB)
3rd Dam: Musicanti, by Nijinsky II
(€50,000 Wlg '19 ARQDE; 67,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT; 210,000gns 2yo '21 TATBRE). O-Godolphin; B-Le Haras D'Haspel (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £298,507. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Ire, 4-4-0-0, $692,565. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dubawi Legend (Ire), 127, c, 2, Dubawi (Ire)–Lovely Pass (Ire), by Raven's Pass. O-Dr Ali Ridha; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited (IRE); T-Hugo Palmer. £113,171.
3–Bayside Boy (Ire), 127, c, 2, New Bay (GB)–Alava (Ire), by Anabaa. (200,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Teme Valley & Ballylinch Stud; B-Ballylinch Stud (IRE); T-Roger Varian. £56,638.
Margins: 2, HF, 1 3/4. Odds: 0.83, 12.00, 9.00.
Also Ran: Berkshire Shadow (GB), Dhabab (Ire), Glounthaune (Ire), Go Bears Go (Ire), Straight Answer (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
The post Oasis Dream’s Native Trail Completes The Bluewash In The Dewhurst appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Quality Rocket Seeks A Repeat In OKC Turf At Remington Park
A solid field of 11 has been drawn for the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics OKC Turf, sponsored by the Choctaw Nation, on Friday, Oct. 15 at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. If the 5-2 morning line favorite Quality Rocket defends his championship, he will have earned it.
Quality Rocket drew the 11-hole, the far outside post for this race at 1-1/16th miles. He also has been challenged strongly by some in this field.
Trainer Boyd “Jobe” Caster, in the past three years, has turned Quality Rocket, a 7-year-old gelding, into a turf monster, winning last year's Turf and the Red Earth Stakes twice. This son of Backstabber, out of the King of Scat mare Lady Cambridge, has earned $409,006 over his career, winning 11 of 35 starts. The most telling statistic that shows just how Quality Rocket has bloomed as an older horse is that Caster put him into claiming races for a $7,500 tag three times when he was a 4-year-old in 2018 and no one grabbed him. In those three races, he had run second twice and won by 6-3/4 lengths. That win came in only the second time around two turns for Quality Rocket.
Quality Rocket, owned by Jeremy Ball of Shawnee, Okla., won last year's race for Jeremy's father Gerald Ball, who has passed away in the meantime. If Quality Rocket could get the job done again this year, it would be the third win in the Turf for Caster. He also won this race in 2012 with Ridge Road with jockey Lindey Wade up. Garrett Steinberg booted home Quality Rocket last year and Ramon Vazquez gets the call for this year's Turf.
Quality Rocket would have won three Red Earth Stakes races in a row had it not been for a late rush from longshot Timely Reply in 2019 that left him in second, beaten by a neck.
Last year, Quality Rocket held off Half Ours to Keep (4-1) by a head at the wire in the Turf. Half Ours to Keep, a 5-year-old gelded son of Beggarthyneighbor, out of the Purim mare Cusip, is owned by Erin Gaarz of Arlington, Texas, and trained by Karl Broberg. He will be ridden by Stewart Elliott, who is among the top grass riders at Remington every thoroughbred meet. However, Half Ours to Keep is 0-for-10 on the grass with $66,448 banked greensward, but that move last year makes him dangerous. He will break just to Quality Rocket's inside in post 10.
The third choice in the line at 9-2, Quarky, also has to be given a solid shot in here. He ran second to Quality Rocket in this meet's Red Earth Stakes, beaten one length, and actually was sent off as the 9-5 favorite in that race. This 5-year-old gelding by The Factor, out of the Sahm mare Beyond the Reach, is owned by Jerry Namy of Ft. Worth, Texas, and trained by Broberg. He will be ridden by David Cabrera, the three-time defending champion rider here. Cabrera has an easy lead in the jockeys' standings this meet as well.
Quarky is a four-time winner on the lawn with his most recent win on the grass coming at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., when he won an allowance race there on Dec. 11, 2020. He is the second-most experienced on the turf with 23 starts on that surface. Only Pacific Typhoon (15-1) has more starts on the grass with 26, winning eight times. He ran fourth in this race last year, beaten only 1-1/4 lengths.
Another consideration has to be Khola (6-1), a winner of his last two starts on the grass, both times in allowance company. This 4-year-old gelded son of Pollard's Vision, out of the Election Day (IRE) mare Buena Fortuna (MEX), hails from trainer Kari Craddock's barn for owner Craddock Racing of Brookings, S.D. He will be ridden by Leandro Goncalves. It will only be his third start against stakes horses. His best finish in a stakes race was fourth in two tries.
Here's the field from the rail out with horse, jockey, trainer, and odds:
Morhawk, Richard Eramia, Karl Broberg, 20-1
Pacific Typhoon, Lane Luzzi, Austin Gustafson, 15-1
Khola, Leandro Goncalves, Kari Craddock, 6-1
Quarky, David Cabrera, Karl Broberg, 9-2
Sweet Medicine, Luis Quinonez, Francisco Bravo, 8-1
Yip Kip, Ezequiel Lara, Lynn Chleborad, 20-1
Gospel Musketeer, Jose Medina, Steve Williams, 30-1
Tommyhawk, Freddy Manrrique, Randy Swango, 10-1
Georgia Deputy, Jose Alvarez, Joe Petalino, 20-1
Half Ours to Keep, Stewart Elliott, Karl Broberg, 4-1
Quality Rocket, Ramon Vazquez, Boyd “Jobe” Caster, 5-2
The Turf is set as the ninth of 10 races on Oklahoma Classics Night, with an approximate start time of 11:05 pm. The first race on Oct. 15 goes at 7:07 pm. All times are Central.
The post Quality Rocket Seeks A Repeat In OKC Turf At Remington Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.